Nearly 50 years ago, Congress adopted the Fair Housing Act, landmark legislation necessary to end discrimination in housing and eliminate the barriers created by segregation. The AFFH regulation—designed with considerable public input—was added in 2015 and was considered a critical and overdue step in carrying out Congress’s intent. It gave jurisdictions a roadmap and tools for compliance and included measures for accountability. Without warning, HUD has decided effectively to suspend the regulation, leaving local jurisdictions confused, giving local residents less voice in important decisions about their communities, and reinstating an approach to fair housing that the Government Accountability Office found to be ineffective and poorly administered.

“The administration’s abrupt decision to effectively suspend this critical regulation is misguided,” says Diane Yentel, NLIHC president and CEO. “The federal government, states, and local communities have been required by law since 1968 to work to undo the segregated communities that federal housing policy created in the first place. Suspending the tools that help communities meet that obligation, without any input from key stakeholders, is a step in the wrong direction.”

HUD’s decision is a serious loss for fair housing and puts the promise of making every neighborhood a community of opportunity further out of reach. NLIHC and our partners call on HUD to reverse its decision, withdraw this notice, and move ahead with implementation and enforcement of this important fair housing rule. And we call on Congress to provide policy and budgetary oversight of HUD to ensure it is delivering on the promise of fair and equitable housing.